


Engel

by Dorksidefiker



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-05
Updated: 2013-07-03
Packaged: 2017-12-07 13:28:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/749012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorksidefiker/pseuds/Dorksidefiker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kozmotis Pitchiner is unable to step into the role of the Golden General, the mantel falls upon other shoulders.  But some things are written in stone; you cannot cage fear for long, and Kozmotis is going to have take drastic steps to save the ones he loves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [The Kink Meme strikes again.](http://rotg-kink.dreamwidth.org/2200.html?thread=3546776#cmt3546776)

"Lets play a game," Kozmotis whispered, carefully cupping his daughter's face in his hands so that she couldn't turn her head and _see_. Seraphina's lower lip trembled, but she nodded. "That's my girl, that's my brave girl. Now, close your eyes..." He ran his thumbs over her eyelids, dark lashes tickling against the pads as he raised his head to survey what lay before him.

The first sight that greeted him was the body of Seraphina's governess, sprawled on the marble floor like a broken doll. The fearlings had not been kind to her, even in her final moments. Dead eyes stared accusingly at Kozmotis.

The poor woman was not the only one to have felt the wrath of the fearlings; Kozmotis honestly doubted there was anything still living on the estate beside him and Seraphina, except possibly the monsters. He felt a shudder run through him as old wounds ached with the memory of what fearlings could do to a living body; many of them were experts at drawing out fear and pain, leaving their victims alive so they could _feed_. Kozmotis himself had barely survived his own captivity with his sanity intact, and by the time he'd gotten into the hands of a capable physician, his body was too broken to ever be fully repaired.

He'd been allowed to retire to his villa, to live out his days in peace, watching his daughter grow. A reward for decades of service, they'd said.

Some reward. While he idled away his days doing his best to raise a daughter who was nearly a stranger, his beloved Astrid was called to war, fighting more and more dangerous battles, until she was finally called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Tsar and the Empire; to give up her own freedom and stand guard over the creatures of darkness in their distant prison.

The last words between them had been loving but strained; Astrid was doing this so that there would be no other daughters deprived of parents, no more husbands broken into pieces at the hands of fearlings, no other wives forced to give up their families. One last sacrifice for the good of all. Kozmotis had argued, not just with Astrid but with the Tsar himself. Hadn't they sacrificed enough already? Weren't there others just as 'worthy' of this 'honor'?

Ultimately, he had returned to the villa, struggling to find a way to explain to Seraphina that her mother wasn't coming back. Four years, and he still didn't think he'd managed properly.

Not that it mattered anymore. Astrid -- beautiful, perfect Astrid, the Golden General and Great Hope of the Empire -- had failed, and now a monster rampaged across the planets, extinguishing stars and slaughtering the innocent while wearing her face.

"It's just like that game you play with the blindfold," Kozmotis whispered. "You just keep your eyes closed and keep hold of my hand... don't make a sound..."

He checked one last time to make sure Seraphina's eyes were closed, drew his sword, and lead the way through the darkened villa. Four years of peace had not been enough to break Kozmotis of many habits left over from the war, the most important (and expensive) of these being maintaining a small escape ship, just large enough for a couple of people. It was utilitarian, and it was possibly one of the fastest ships in the Empire. Certainly it was far faster than anything a mere civilian should have had access to, but certain allowances were to be made for a family that had served the Empire as long and as well as the Pitchiners. A blind eye was turned when Kozmotis had approached a supply sergeant from his old command, and a few discrete inquires had resulted in _The Guppy_ finding it's home on the Pitchiner estate.

All they had to do was _get_ there without being caught by the fearlings, and they would be...

Not safe. No, never _safe_. Not so long as the Queen of Air and Darkness roamed the universe, extinguishing every last light. But they would be able to escape, and find a place to fight on their own terms. Kozmotis would take himself and his daughter to the Tsar. He might not have been the soldier he once was, but he was still a capable general, and he doubted that the Tsar was in any position to be _picky_.

Dread filled him as he thought of the life that spread out before him, but he would not allow that to stop him. The Empire would need him to be courageous; _Seraphina_ would need him to be courageous, no matter what dangers might be ahead.


	2. Chapter 2

Kozmotis wasn't sure, at first, what had drawn him to the tiny frozen pond; only that he had been called, just as surely as if someone had spoken his name. He found what had called him standing unsteadily in the middle of the pond -- two children, cold and afraid as the ice beneath them began to crack. The ice was at it's most rotten beneath the girl, but both children would suffer a plunge into the frigid water if they didn't move soon. Still they stood, paralyzed by their own fear.

Kozmotis approached the pond, ready to glide out there and hoping to the Moon that he would be fast enough, when Seraphina laid a hand on his arm, surprising him. She wore the colors of the season, greys and blues and whites blending together, with the faintest dusting of frost glittering in her dark hair. "Grant them your courage, and nothing more," she whispered, her voice like the hiss of wind rustling through bare branches. "Your lord and master has plans for these two."

The oldest Guardian cast his eyes skyward; the moon was indeed unnaturally bright in the daytime sky. The Tsar was taking an interest -- but _why_?

Seraphina squeezed his arm again in a silent warning. If he tried to intervene, she would stop him. Curiosity piqued, he turned his attention back to the pond, offering his silent support and willing them to be brave in the face of their fear. What must be going on, to have Seraphina acting on behalf of the Tsar? She'd made no secret of her disdain for him even before taking up the mantle of Mother Nature. Sometimes, Kozmotis suspected she had gone in search of power specifically so she could spite the Tsar every chance she got.

"It's okay, it's okay. Don't look down, just look at me."

"Jack, I'm scared!"

"I know, I know-" The ice began to splinter beneath Jack's feet. "But you're gonna be alright. You're not gonna fall in."

"You could freeze the water," Kozmotis hissed. "They're _children_."

Seraphina looked up at the moon. "Sacrifices must be made for the greater good," she told him distantly.

"We're gonna have a little fun instead."

For just a moment, the mask of Mother Nature fell away from Seraphina's face, and Kozmotis saw his little girl once more. "You and Mummy taught me that."

Jack kept talking, playing the clown to try and ease the girl's fear. The ice cracked, louder than thunder, but the child started to giggle in spite of herself. Jack used a stick to throw the girl towards the bank, pushed out onto the rotten ice by the momentum. There was a perfect moment, the girl still laughing (as much with shock as actual joy) when the ice beneath Jack's feet finally gave way, sending him plummeting into the freezing water below.

"She needs you now," Seraphina said, stepping lightly onto the pond. The water froze beneath her bare feet, keeping the girl from joining her rescuer as she scrambled towards the rapidly shrinking hole. The boy was already dead, the chill waters having driven the air from his lungs and shocking his whole body into shutting down. "I'll see to Jack."

The girl was so focused on trying to get to Jack that she didn't even notice Kozmotis until he picked her up, pouring the full force of his power into giving her the courage she would need most; the courage to carry on. "Be not afraid," he murmured, carrying her off the ice. "You must be brave for him."

She called him Metatron as she sobbed, clinging to Kozmotis. It was but of the many names he'd worn over the centuries, but he was as he had _always_ been -- a Guardian of children.

The moon shone down so very brightly, and when Kozmotis looked back, he saw Seraphina sink through the ice, reaching out to the boy below.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~

On the third day, Jack Frost rose from the ice.

Such a momentous event should have been greeted with more fanfare. Instead, there was silence and moonlight, and the soft gasp of a newborn spirit. Kozmotis watched from the shadows of the trees, holding his daughter close as she fought to regain her strength. She had crawled out of the ice moments before, weakened and shaking with the effort of what she had wrought the over the last few days.

No birth was ever easy.

Jack laughed as he skittered coltishly across the ice, and Seraphina sent on of her winds to him.

"One last gift before I leave him." She closed her eyes, a few frozen tears rolling down her face. "We never stop sacrificing for the greater good, do we?"

"Someday," Kozmotis promised, watching Jack Frost fly unsteadily towards the village, knowing that only pain awaited him there and unable to do anything about it. "Someday."

Someday had always been such a long way off.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next couple of chapters are going to cover the events of the movie. Apologies for how long it took to get this up; as those of you who follow my other stories know, my notebook grew little legs and walked off.

"There's no way this can't end badly," Kozmotis announced, looking up at the moon. Not that anyone was listening; Bunny and North were arguing again, and Tooth was already going on about Jack's teeth while Sandy had drifted off once more. Despite the dread promise of Mab's return, they were already pulling apart again. "I don't suppose you'd care to share whatever it is you're planning with your poor, ill informed foot soldiers?"

The moon glowed bright, and the Tsar offered his oldest Guardian no answers.

"Seraphina's right. You _are_ insufferable." He clasped his hands behind his back, lips pursed. "I could just go ask her -- at this point, she might even tell me."

Whatever it was that had lead Seraphina to help the Tsar pull young Jack Frost from the pond, things were finally coming to a head. It was time to see what the boy had become over the last three hundred years.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kozmotis couldn't resist making the comparisons; whoever Jack might have been when he fell through the ice, now he was something angry, bitter, and powerful, hiding it all beneath a veneer of snotty fun. He reacted to North's song and dance better than Kozmotis had expected, though; only one elf frozen, and the boy and Bunny _didn't_ actually come to blows before North pulled Jack aside.

"You've been as quiet as Sandy," Tooth noted in between directing her fairies. "That's not like you."

"Just thinking-"

" _Why now_?" Tooth guessed. "We're all wondering the same thing. In fact, I thought maybe... you might know something we don't? Since the Man in the Moon talks to you most."

Kozmotis shook his head. "We _know_ why. This is about Mab."

Bunny obviously couldn't resist a derisive snort, giving the egg he held a critical once over. "We beat her before, we can do it again, and without Jack bloody Frost! It's _just_ Mab."

"There's _nothing_ 'just' about Mab," Kozmotis reminded them hardly, ready to wipe the smug smirk off the Pooka's face. "Give her that kind of opening, and she'll devour you _whole_."

Tooth wasn't listening, and Bunny rolled his eyes, his attention returning to the egg. Only the Sandman paid him any heed; he'd always been more aware of how dangerous the Queen of Air and Darkness really was. She wouldn't be moving now unless she was sure of her plot. Kozmotis hoped that the Tsar was as certain of his own plan, whatever it might be.

A fairy wizzed past Kozmotis's ear, straight to her queen, keening like a lost soul. Tooth joined her, letting out a shriek of mingled horror and rage. "My fairies! _She's attacking my fairies!_ "

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Astrid Pitchiner had been a beautiful dream -- intelligent, graceful, witty, and for some strange reason, in love with Kozmotis. The general consensus was that she could have done far better, and Kozmotis had always been the first to agree.

Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, was still beautiful. But there was something _tainted_ about her beauty, like the perfect skin of the apple hiding the rot beneath, or the siren calling sailors to the rocks so she might devour their flesh. There was nothing of Astrid's earthy sensuality, just the false promise before the monster revealed it's true face. She teased and she mocked as she slithered about Punjam Hy Loo, proudly debuting her latest monstrosity, Nightmares formed from stolen dreams before making her escape with the little fairies and the teeth.

Another love of Astrid's twisted by the thing wearing her skin.

"I should have known," Kozmotis castigated himself, watching glorious Punjam Hy Loo begin to crumble. It'd been a set up from the moment Mab had appeared to North. Tooth was already fading, and the rest of them would soon follow. Kozmotis could already feel the familiar twinges of old war wounds, long held in check by the belief of the children.

He listened with half an ear as Tooth explained to Jack how important her duty was, preserving the memory of every child, including him.

"But... I wasn't anyone before I was Jack Frost."

Kozmotis kept his tongue behind his teeth and his eyes carefully averted, but he knew North had caught the look that had flashed across his face. His heart grew heavy when the boy announced his desire, his _need_ to get all the teeth back and reclaim his own memories. Had _that_ been a part of the plan as well?

Just how much had Jack been forced to sacrifice for the sake of the greater good?

The Tooth Fairy's grand palace continued to crumble around them as more and more children awoke to find their teeth were still tucked under their pillows, and the woman herself began to shed her beautiful plumage.

_How far have we fallen,_ Kozmotis wondered, _if we can lose Punjam Hy Loo in less than a day?_

Of course, it was North who announced that _they_ could collect the teeth as well as Tooth's fairies, nearly taking Bunny's head off with a wild gesture of his swords. How long had it been since they'd _really_ come together in the face of a threat? Not since Mab's last real bid for power, certainly.

_I should have done more to make us a unit._ But it had been so easy to drift away from them, coming to them only when he was needed to help put down some threat to the children. They each had their own responsibilities... and not one understood why dealing with Mab was so difficult for him. If he'd tried harder, it might never have come to this.

For a moment, Kozmotis thought of warning Jack away. The boy was caught up in a game he couldn't hope to understand, and sometimes not remembering was a far kinder thing.

But no. The sacrifice had already been made, and Jack was already in too deep to back out now. Not with North dangling the promise of helping him get his memories back like a carrot before a donkey.

There were times when Kozmotis despised 'the greater good', not that that had ever stopped him from working for it. He threw in with North's plan, but he did not leave with his fellow Guardians. "I'm going to call in a few favors."

It was time to pay Seraphina a visit.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry sorry sorry for taking so long to get this up! I accidentally lost the link, then I got distracted by other stuff.

Not even the greatest of Powers was truly omniscient; they all had their blind spots, their limits... but Mother Nature was certainly very good at seeming like she was. There was no place on Earth she could not see if she so wished (or so she liked to say), no animal that would not answer to her, no plant that would not bend to her whims.

Kozmotis didn't know the full truth of how Seraphina pulled off her all-seeing act, but he knew that at the center of it was the great crystal globe that dominated what he called her throne room. It was easily as large as the globe in North's workshop, and in Seraphina's presence it normally showed the ever shifting patterns of weather across the world. It could also show her whatever she wanted to see with the smallest expenditure of power. He'd seen her pull the same trick using still water or a flat sheet of ice, but the clearest pictures always came from the crystal globe.

Thankfully, Seraphina was home rather than riding the currents of the air and whipping up the great storms she loved best.

A bank of clouds moved beneath Seraphina's hand as Kozmotis watched, catching against a mountain range and dispersing.

"I cannot involve myself."

Kozmotis clasped his hands behind his back, standing ramrod straight despite the slowly growing pain of old war wounds. Seraphina didn't turn around; her focus was on a rain shower over the southern tip of Africa. "That's not what I'm asking."

"Mab is on the rise, your powers are fading, and your lord and master is actually _worried_. What other reason could you have for coming to me _now_ , rather than collecting teeth with the others?"

A storm that had been heading to the south of China turned abruptly southward, shedding rain over the ocean rather than land. Kozmotis was careful not to smile.

"I'm calling in the marker."

The ever-shifting world disappeared, leaving only clear crystal and a web of cracks spreading out from where Mother Nature's fist had slammed into the rock. Seraphina spun, glaring darkly at Kozmotis. "Did you consider for even a moment that maybe it's _time_ for the Guardians to fall? No Golden Age lasts forever, however much we might wish it to."

"To live is to strive," Kozmotis retorted. "Perhaps it is time, but we won't go without a fight, and we. Are owed. A boon."

"How does not turning North's workshop into a smoking crater strike you?"

" _Seraphina._ "

She closed her eyes, inhaling slowly through her nose. "A boon. What do you ask of me, General?"

"The teeth must be collected. Your beasts get everywhere, and can come and go unremarked. Lend them to me for the duration of the crisis and I will consider the debt paid."

Seraphina nodded once and raised her arm. A bearded vulture flew through one of the many open windows of the great hall, perching there and turning it's head to stare at Kozmotis with mad red eyes. "Ossifrage will coordinate the efforts."

Kozmotis extended his arm, allowing the vulture to perch on his bracer. Wicked talons wrapped tightly around his forearm while the bird preened it's brilliant pink plumage. It didn't try to attack him, but it looked as if it were considering the option.

"Very well."

"And now that my debt has been paid..." Seraphina continued pointedly.

"I thought you might want to know how Jack's getting on."

Seraphina turned to face her crystal, trailing her fingers over the cracks.

"He turned us down," Kozmotis went on. "But he's agreed to help us stop Mab. Did you know he wouldn't remember his life as a mortal?"

"... it was always a possibility, yes."

She was watching him through the splintered reflections of her crystal globe, just as he watched her.

"Other than that, he looks surprisingly well for someone who's been left on his own for so long."

"If you tell him _anything_ , father or not, I will make you suffer for it," Seraphina warned. An image formed within the crystal globe, of Jack slicing through the air while Bunnymund raced across the rooftops, laughing and care free. "He must be free of outside influence. His choices must be his own. Now... don't you have a fair Tooth Fairy to rescue?"


	5. Chapter 5

_I should have been faster._

Mab’s mocking laughter echoed in Kozmotis’s head. When he closed his eyes, he saw only the last moments of the Sandman as her corruption overwhelmed him.

He should have _realized_. Of course Mab would move to eliminate the Dream Weaver at the first opportunity, and they’d given her a clear shot -- taken out by one of their own allies until it was too late!

How much had they depended on the Sandman to keep them strong the last few centuries? Dreams had served in lieu of actual appearances, filling the minds of their charges with wonder and hope and memories and courage. Dreams could reawaken discarded belief, bolster fading memories...

Mab had eliminated that most important connection to the children, and Kozmotis had been too blind to see it coming.

Still. Kozmotis could not allow courage to fail any more than Bunnymund would allow hope to falter, no matter how grim matters had become.

They would make Easter a grand success... and then they would sort out Mab.

Even Jack rallied at the idea, lured away from his solitary brooding by North. The boy’s smiles, tinged with sorrow though they were, were genuine. He even found it in himself to laugh at Ossifrage’s attempts to make a meal of one of the elves, unaware that the vulture had been quietly stalking the boy much of the night. He also seemed unaware of how much hope he inspired in the Guardians -- he had done something no one but the Sandman had been capable of since before the fall of the Golden Age when he’d driven back Mab and her Nightmares.

Hope was a grand thing.

Sometimes, it was the only thing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“The pretty little boy’s all mine now, lover,” Mab purred in Kozmotis’s ear as she twisted her sword in his gut. Her touch was almost tender as she caressed the back of his neck, twining her fingers through his hair. “Such a tender little morsel, so easily swayed.”

The world contracted to a tiny point; the cacophany of the Nightmares rampaging through the Warren seemed very far away indeed as his thoughts caught on Jack. He’d promised he would only be gone a few minutes, to safely deliver Sophie to her home.

_Where was Jack?_

“Finish it,” he croaked.

“Now why would I let you off so easily, General?” She trailed her fingers down his face, nails leaving behind thin scratches on his cheek. “I’ve waited centuries for this day. I’m not about to let you spoil it by dying too soon.” She yanked her blade free, pressing a burning hot hand to his belly before shoving him away. She faded into the shadows with a throaty chuckle.

Ossifrage perched atop one of the ruined sentinels as if trying to decide if Kozmotis was going to die in the immediate future. Finally, the vulture left him there, sprawled amongst the shattered remains of the eggs as hope began to fade.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Courage, old man,” Kozmotis murmured. Bunnymund hopped back and forth at the foot of Kozmotis’s makeshift bed, a tiny, indignant ball of fluff.

“Don’t you ‘courage’ me, you bastard. We’re _buggered_ , well and truly _buggered_!”

With only a handful of eggs, Easter had been an utter disaster, not that Kozmotis had been there to witness it. Even with his wounds cauterized and tended to, they had been too severe for him to venture out with the others. Their powers were fading fast now, while Mab would only be getting stronger.

_But still, we shall endure._

Kozmotis sat up with great care for both his unhealed injuries and the ancient war wounds that had forced his retirement so long ago. He’d forgotten what it was like to ache so; as a Guardian, his wounds had always healed quickly and left him free of pain. “Giving up?” he asked gently.

There was something in the look the last Pooka turned on him, something irrepressible. Bunnymund was a warrior, even diminished as he was. “There’s still a light out there who needs us. Dunno about you, but I’m planning on going down swinging.”

Kozmotis extended his fingers to Bunnymund, who deigned to allow him to scratch behind his ears. “Not the most rousing speech.” Not even the most hopeful, but Kozmotis could feel that glimmer, however faint it might have been. It was the same glimmer that had send him chasing after the Moon Clipper, even though he was half crippled, with his daughter in tow.

There was one who still believed. Each Guardian could feel the pull of it, even without North’s globe to show it to them.

“I’m surprised your girl hasn’t swooped in to insist we can’t bring you along,” Bunnymund said with surprising gentleness. There was no love lost between the Easter Bunny and Mother Nature, and he’d never made any attempts to pretend otherwise in front of his fellow Guardian. Unspoken was the question ‘Why isn’t she flinging lightning bolts left and right?’

Seraphina had never been shy about her protectiveness when it came to her father, even if it manifested itself in strange and sometimes dangerous ways. The Atlantians had felt the full force of her fury when they had dared to try and trap him... but there were limits, and matters she could not or would not involve herself in.

Kozmotis chose his words carefully. “Mother Nature,” he explained, putting special emphasis on her title, “has made her stance quite clear. This is entirely a Guardian matter, and she’ll not interfere any further now that her debt is discharged. Not even for me.”

He could hear the jingle-jangle of the reindeer harnesses. They would be on their way soon, and Kozmotis would be going with them; Mab wouldn’t be able to resist snuffing out the last light personally, and the Guardians _would_ be there to defend the child.


	6. Chapter 6

Kozmotis waited three days before he approached the gateway to Mab’s realm. Really, it wasn’t so much _waiting_ as _being entirely too busy_. The Sandman might have returned to them, reawakening the belief their charges had abandoned, but the precious teeth of the children still needed to be returned to their proper places in Punjam Hy Loo, and the Warren was a shambles. Even with the power of the returning belief to bolster them, it would still be _years_ before Bunny’s home was restored to it’s former glory. _None_ of them were willing to rest on their laurels after their victory; it had been too near a thing for them to risk that, and only Jack was truly flush with power.

Even with the dreams of the Sandman and Tooth’s use of the memories, belief was not always something easily restored. For the first time in centuries, each and every one of the Guardians was walking through the world, reminding their charges of their existence.

It was three days before Kozmotis felt comfortable stepping away from his duty; he hadn’t even been to see Seraphina yet.

The Nightmares had slammed the gateway shut behind them when they’d dragged Mab away, screaming like the damned thing she was, but Kozmotis could still see the signs of what had been there. The earth was barren for yards around, and ringed with dead and dying trees. Despite the coming of spring, the air was cool enough that Kozmotis could see his own breath, and the ground itself was unhallowed, tainted by Mab’s lingering presence. _Nothing_ should have been able to grow-

Kozmotis closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, listening to the distant sounds of the creatures that called the woods around Jack’s pond home. Even they avoided this place, but the old Guardian wasn’t alone.

“Come out, Jack.”

The newest Guardian swung around one of the dead trees, perching nonchalantly on one of the few branches sound enough to hold even his slight weight. His staff dangled loosely in his hand, and the smirk on his lips didn’t match the solemnity in his pale blue eyes. “Hey there, old man. What brings you back to my neck of the woods?”

Someday, Kozmotis was going to have a talk with several certain someones about the curious proximity of this gateway to the place of Jack Frost’s death and rebirth. The words involved would likely be very unkind indeed.

“Much the same thing that brings you away from your believers, I imagine.” Kozmotis crouched at the edge of the circle of disturbed earth, taking up a handful of dirt and letting it fall between his fingers. All around him, the ground was sour and foul, but this -- this was good, clean earth. Jack dropped down from the tree branch and squatted beside him, brushing one of the snowdrops growing within the circle of good earth with a finger and coating it with frost.

“We were all someone, before we were chosen,” Jack repeated thoughtfully. “Even Mab?”

“Even Mab.” Kozmotis confirmed. Had there been something there, in those last moments before the Nightmares had taken hold of the Queen of Air and Darkness? Some spark of Astrid, that had made her reach for him before she was snatched away? There had been something _different_ there, like something had changed between the assault on the Warren and the confrontation over the last light.

Was that spark was what this was all about?

It would have been nice if the universe could bring itself to leaving Kozmotis with more answers than questions, just once.

“And maybe someday, she’ll remember that.”

Jack grunted, rising and stretching his arms above his head in a display of casual indifference that Kozmotis wasn’t buying for an instant. “I think I kinda hate that word, ‘someday’. It’s always _someday_ never _now_.”

A butterfly passed, pausing briefly amongst the snowdrops before moving on.

The thing about someday, Kozmotis knew, was that eventually it became _today_.

“If you’re not too busy,” the old general began casually, “there’s someone I think it’s long past time you met...”


End file.
